THE health benefits of water fluoridation are so clear that dentists should actively spread the word among their patients, according to North-East health bosses.

In his report - The Teesside and Hartlepool Oral Health Strategy - dental chief John Stewart urges local dentists to explain the advantages of fluoridation to the 75 per cent of Teesside residents who go to the dentist in any one year.

"Dentists have a key role to play in explaining the advantages of fluoridation to their patients," he says.

While the British Dental Association supports adding fluoride to water, there is still opposition from protestors who claim that fluoridation can damage healthy teeth.

To illustrate the difference, water fluoridation can make the latest statistics show that children in the most deprived areas of Hartlepool - which is naturally fluoridated - have the same levels of decay as the most affluent in neighbouring non-fluoridated areas.

"Thus, fluoride in the water supplies removes the inequality between rich and poor," said Mr Stewart, who points out that the NHS target of a maximum average of one diseased tooth in children aged five years by 2003, will be achieved in fluoridated Hartlepool but not in the rest of the Tees area.

Mr Stewart acknowledges that fluoridation is dependent on the outcome of a scientific review by academics at York University and the Government's willingness to give the measure legislative time.

In the report, Mr Stewart also highlights the high death toll from oral cancer on Teesside, which claims the lives of two people every year. Yet, it can be treated if it is identified early enough.

Regular dental checks should pick up oral cancer, which is strongly linked to smoking and drinking alcohol, he said.

Mr Stewart, Tees Health Authority's consultant in dental public health, urged people to limit the number of times a day that sugars are eaten or drunk, keep the drinking of fizzy drinks to mealtimes and brush and floss teeth with a fluoride toothpaste twice a day